


tell me what you need (oh, you look so free)

by ladyofrosefire



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Aftercare, BDSM, Bondage, F/F, Forced Orgasm, Gags, Multiple Orgasms, Nipple Clamps, Nipple Play, Shibari, Spanking, Strap-Ons, Strapping, Vaginal Fingering, mildly rough sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:22:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyofrosefire/pseuds/ladyofrosefire
Summary: Keyleth goes to Zahra with a request—to be taken out of her head, down, and apart. And to not have to say what she wants.
Relationships: Zahra Hydris/Keyleth
Comments: 16
Kudos: 137





	tell me what you need (oh, you look so free)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to NotAFicWriter and Damoselmaledisant for beta-reading and moral support.

Keyleth finds Zahra in her house, the not-quite-manor Vex set up for her in Whitestone, and tries not to fist her hands in her skirt as she approaches. They go into the sitting room together. The couches have thick, comfortable cushions, and she settles into them, hugging a pillow against her chest.

“Um,” she says, and curses internally at her start. “You remember joking around a few nights ago when we were all out drinking?”

Zahra tilts her head, smiling in a way that makes Keyleth feel naked already. “Oh, I do. This was before Grog brought out the Sandkeg, right?”

“Yeah.”

Silence hangs for a moment, thick and heavy, and a burning flush works its way up Keyleth’s cheeks.

Finally, Zahra stands. “I’ll make us some tea, and you can tell me what it is you want.”

It’s not the first time they’ve been together, but normally it’s quick, simple. Something they can discuss and go right into it without too much fuss. This time is different. Keyleth stops and starts her way through the explanation, turning her cup around and around and around while the tea brews. It gives her something else to look at while she confesses the bare bones of it. It’s easier this way, to try and give Zahra the _why_ and let her figure out the _how_. She’d said once that planning the details was a special kind of treat, like unraveling a riddle. Right then, Keyleth is mostly glad that it means she does not have to try to plot anything.

Zahra hums, a smile curving across her mouth. Then she gives a slow nod, her expression thoughtful, a spark Keyleth has seen before coming to her eyes. Keyleth exhales.

“That’s quite a request,” Zahra observes. “I’m flattered. To be clear—you’re not asking me to pretend to rape you.”

“ _No,”_ Keyleth replies immediately, and then, “Well…”

She flounders, unsure of how to explain that it isn’t the fantasy, even if what she wants is to be able to fight.

Luckily, Zahra understands. “You don’t want to say no. You just… don’t want to have to say yes.”

Which, in the real world, is a _no_ , but it’s enough of a difference for them. So Keyleth nods and drinks her tea and gasps quietly because she forgot how _hot_ Zahra makes it.

“I’d like to have a spotter if you will, or an assistant,” Zahra says, blowing steam off of her cup. “Someone we both like and trust. I’d say Kashaw, but he’s a bit busy at the moment, and I doubt you want to wait too long.”

Keyleth nods her agreement. “Who would you suggest, then?”

“One of your friends?”

“Oh.” She swallows hard. The idea of anyone else seeing her while she’s falling apart gnaws at her stomach, but Zahra’s right. They’ll need the extra hands if nothing else. So she thinks about it, running down the list of her friends quickly and ruling them out one by one until— “Pike?”

Zahra blinks. “Not who I was expecting, but I can see it. We all get along. I’ll even ask her.”

“ _Thank you,”_ Keyleth replies fervently.

“Oh, no trouble. This is going to be its own reward, I think.”

Keyleth stands lock-kneed outside the hall outside Zahra’s bedroom, her hand on the doorknob. She can open it. She can walk in. It’s fine, they’ve discussed it. All she has to do is open the door.

“Keyleth?” Zahra calls, “should I make other plans?”

She turns the knob. The door opens, and she steps inside.

Across the room, Zahra sits cross-legged in an armchair in a black corset that cups her breasts and emphasizes the dip of her waist and black leather boots that hug her legs halfway up her thighs.

Keyleth’s mouth goes dry.

“Aren’t you _sweet_ ,” Zahra greets her, bearing her fangs in a smile. “Take off your dress and come here, darling girl.”

It’s a tone calculated to put Keyleth’s hackles up, and she glares back, defiant, crossing her arms. Her dress is thin, cheap, and flimsy, but it’s a barrier to Zahra’s eyes. Even though she’s not alone, that seems to _matter._

“Oh, so it’s going to be like that? Alright, one more time—Take off your dress and whatever you have under it, come here, and get on your knees like a good girl.”

“Or what?” It’s _childish_ , but Keyleth doesn’t care; she is staying right where she is.

Zahra doesn’t say ‘or I’ll make you.’ She just gets to her feet. She has no skirt, no underwear, and Keyleth stares at her for a moment before she can bring her eyes back to Zahra’s face. By then, she’s only a foot or so away. Keyleth tries to back up, only for Zahra to grab her by the arm and spin her around. There’s a flicker of gold in the corner of her vision, but she’s not supposed to acknowledge that.

Sharp-nailed fingers dig into her skin. Zahra isn’t _that_ strong, but neither is Keyleth. She struggles ineffectually against the hold on her arm while Zahra takes the short rope hanging at her waist and loops it swiftly around her wrist. Then she seizes the other arm and catches that wrist, too, trapping her in a pair of quick cuffs. Keyleth pulls against them, and Zahra shakes her head.

“Get _off_ me,” Keyleth spits.

“None of that…” She sounds thoroughly unbothered as she pulls a small blade from somewhere inside the corset. It nips through one strap of Keyleth’s dress and then the other, and the whole thing crumbles to the ground.

Again, Keyleth struggles, trying to cover her breasts with her hands, to get away. Then the knife is at her hip, and she goes quivering-still, caught like a deer as Zahra cuts away her underwear, as well. A hot flush burns over her cheeks.

“There we are,” There’s a pause, presumably while Zahra puts the knife away, and then her hand comes down sharply on Keyleth’s ass. “Are you done?”

“Let. Me. _Go.”_

“No, I don’t think I will.” Her hand creeps inward across Keyleth’s hip, and she squirms and presses her thighs together. It doesn’t work. Zahra hauls Keyleth’s arms up by the cuffs until she has to take a step to catch her balance, then slips her hand between her thighs. One finger drags between her labia, and Keyleth whimpers. “Oh, yes. You’ll do.”

There’s shuffling behind her, the feeling of a smaller set of hands taking hold of her rope cuffs, but Keyleth barely notices. “You can’t—”

That’s when a mage hand shoves a gag into her mouth. It’s a fat knot of silk cord that stops Keyleth’s tongue and muffles her indignant cry. She’s about to spit it out when Zahra grabs either side of the ropes hanging from it and ties them off behind her head.

Then she takes the cuffs back in hand. “Don’t struggle, dear. I’d hate to hurt you.”

Keyleth tries to say ‘ _yeah right,’_ but it comes out muddled and muffled. Still, she doesn’t thrash while Zahra binds her arms with a long coil of deep red rope. She only stands there fuming silently, thighs pressed tightly together. Zahra tugs on the bonds, forcing her shoulders back and her chest forward and making Keyleth squeak, once, into the gag. Then she continues with loop after loop running down to Keyleth’s wrists, replacing the quick cuffs with sturdy, thick knots. The tie holds her fast, and heat pools low in her stomach. Keyleth bites back a moan.

“There we are. That’s better.”

Zahra takes her by the rope at Keyleth’s elbows and marches her to the bed. The bedpost digs into Keyleth’s bound arms. When she tries to move forward, Zahra plants her hand on Keyleth’s chest and pushes her back.

“Now where was I…” she muses.

Keyleth whines into the gag as Zahra pushes her hand back between her thighs. She knows she’s wet, and she flushes hot as Zahra smirks at her. Her squirming doesn’t deter Zahra at all. One finger moves back and forth, back and forth, and then circles her clit. Keyleth bucks her hips, and Zahra moves her finger away. Then she sinks it into Keyleth up to the last knuckle.

“What was it you said before?” Zahra asks as she crooks her finger. It rubs too-slow circles that make Keyleth’s knees tremble. “I can’t?”

She bites down on the gag to stop herself whining. There’s a satisfied curl to Zahra’s mouth, and Keyleth’s stomach twists, and her heart pounds, and she wants to lash out, and she wants to collapse, and she won’t do either. Then a second finger joins the first, crooking just so, and the whine comes out anyway. The circles quicken, then, and Zahra’s thumb comes up to rub against Keyleth’s clit. Her hips tremble with the effort of standing still. She can barely twist her arms in the bindings with her elbows drawn together, but she tries. Her head thunks against the solid bedpost, and she stares up at the ceiling, breathing hard through her nose. And, slowly, she shifts her thighs just a fraction farther apart. She tells herself it’s for balance, but she still moans as Zahra’s fingers increase their pace.

“Look at me,” Zahra commands. When she doesn’t, her fingers stop entirely. “Keyleth.”

Keyleth does, glaring to the best of her ability as her fingers start up again.

“Let’s get something clear, darling. Right now, you don’t control anything. Do you understand?” Zahra takes her by the chin with her other hand, fingers digging into her cheeks. Then she bobs Keyleth’s head up and down. “Yes, Zahra? Good.”

Zahra winds her tighter on her fingers as Keyleth strains and strains and tries to focus on anything other than the steady rhythm, pleasure pushed up her spine in wave after wave. She has control of _this,_ at least. The ropes hold her, and the gag silences her, but she can hold herself together. She can—

Keyleth comes with a scream, knees nearly buckling as the coil snaps. But she’s caught from behind and held steady, and Zahra keeps her fingers moving until the waves of pleasure pass. She sucks them clean, afterward, her smirk still clear on her face.

“Are you ready to be good?” Zahra asks. Her tone turns sympathetic, just enough edge to it to rake up Keyleth’s spine. “If you hate this so much, shake your head, say no—I promise, I’ll understand you. No? That’s what I thought.”

Keyleth glares hard and, enunciating as clearly as she can, says, “Fuck. You.”

Zahra pats her cheek. “I didn’t quite catch that, dear. One more time?”

She does not wait for a response, of course. There’s more rope, the same rich, deep red as the one wrapping Keyleth’s arms. Those steadying hands turn to restraints as Zahra folds the cord in half and works it in a simple but sturdy harness around Keyleth’s chest, threading the lengths under her bound arms and running her fingers along them to make sure they lie flat. Each tug sends her a little deeper, even as she squirms and huffs and flushes as the ropes frame and lift her small breasts and cross over her freckled shoulders.

Zahra takes hold of the tie at the back with one hand and delivers a sharp slap to one side of Keyleth’s chest. When Keyleth moans despite herself, she strikes the other one, watching with a satisfied smile as Keyleth jerks and hisses and tries to struggle. The ropes steal her balance and leverage. A tug and a shove have her bent over the foot of the bed. Then Zahra’s fingers come back, pushing into her while Keyleth shrieks into the gag. She gets three this time, enough to make her groan with the stretch, and Zahra’s thumb on her clit again. The rhythm she sets is sharp, fast, fucking into her like Zahra means to pull her apart from the inside, and Keyleth fights it and fights it, but it’s _good_ , and all that liquid heat rises up again and pulls her under anyway. Her hands open and close behind her back until Zahra pulls her fingers out again. This time, she wipes them off on Keyleth’s hip.

It’s harder to struggle, then, with her bones still full of all that pleasure, so she only swears into the gag and wriggles a little as firm hands guide her fully onto the bed, and then draw her legs up under her. More rope circles each leg, binding her thigh to ankle loosely enough to kneel, but nothing else. It digs in just enough to stick her right there in her body with the sweat prickling on her spine and at her hairline and the insistent throb between her thighs where her body tells her it still _wants_ , no matter how much she orders it to struggle.

Zahra climbs up onto the bed, standing upright, and hooks ropes into the harness and the cuffs. Keyleth yelps as she’s pulled up until her upper body hangs parallel to the bed as she kneels. The second rope pulls her arms up, stopping just before her shoulders begin to strain. It’s enough to keep her bent over like that, although she struggles against the ropes anyway until Zahra’s hand cracks against her ass.

Keyleth yelps.

“Now that I have your attention.” Zahra rubs her hand over the stinging spot, then delivers a matching smack to the other side of her ass.

And she continues like that, alternating sides while Keyleth yelps and swears into the gag. She can’t kick, although she tries. The next few smacks come down harder until she whines and shrieks and plants both knees on the bed again. It barely makes Zahra pause in her rhythm. Over and over, her hand comes down, first on one cheek and then the other. Her hand works its way down to the backs of Keyleth’s thighs before she steps away again with a contemplative hum.

Keyleth squirms in her bonds, a soft whine slipping from her mouth. Her ass and thighs sting. When she presses her legs together, she flushes at how wet she finds herself.

“There we are.”

There’s a pause and the sound of footsteps on the floorboards as Zahra collects something, then whispering back and forth. A kiss and a sigh follow, and a soft laugh. Keyleth moans once, as quietly as she can manage.

Zahra still chuckles as she approaches again. Breath catching in her throat, Keyleth makes a futile attempt to tuck her tailbone until a sharp tug on the ropes around her thighs brings her back.

“Feel free to scream as much as you like, darling,” Zahra tells her, rubbing a hand over one stinging cheek. “Who knows, I might even listen.”

Keyleth ducks her head until she catches sight of her picking up a thick, leather strap. A plaintive whine slips past the gag. She squeezes her eyes shut.

She hears the swing of it through the air, first. Then it cracks across the fullest part of her ass, and Keyleth’s eyes go wide. The second blow lands just below the first. She has time to shout before the third blow catches her where her ass meets her thighs. The pain of it thuds through her, pooling in the pit of her stomach, and she sucks in air. Then Zahra hits her again. This time, Keyleth screams. She starts struggling, then, against the ropes, against the steady _crack_ of the strap against her ass and thighs, against the pain that washes through her. It’s bright and hot, and it leaves her nowhere to go. Nothing to do but kneel and take it and scream until she goes limp in her ropes, tears running down her cheeks.

It’s like being broken open, and she wants to sink into the heat of it and melt there.

Zahra gives her three more right at the crease of ass and thigh before setting the strap down again. When she rubs Keyleth’s ass again, she groans, but cannot twitch away.

“There, that’s what I like to see,” she murmurs, “I like red on you so much better than pink.”

The mattress shifts again. Zahra climbs up onto it, reaching for the rope running upward. At the same time, those small hands return, stroking briefly over Keyleth’s smarting thighs before connecting fresh ties to the cuffs around her thighs. Her upper body sinks toward the bed as Zahra gives her slack. She loses it a moment later as the new ropes tug her legs apart and hold them fast. The stance is too wide for her to maintain on her own, sending a burning stretch up her thighs, and she tips forward into the harness. For a moment, she twists against the ropes.

Zahra grips her by the hair and pulls her head back, a wicked smile at her lips. Keyleth knows she must be red-faced and tear-streaked. Saliva runs from her mouth past the gag. When she tries to look away, Zahra tugs at her hair until she cries out and meets her gaze again.

“You know, you’re really not making this any easier on yourself.”

Keyleth lets out a huff.

“Do you need me to pick up the strap again?”

Immediately, she shakes her head. Her ass hurts enough as it is.

Zahra laughs, low and throaty, and kisses the knot of the gag. Her other hand slips down to Keyleth’s chest, squeezing at her breasts. Then she kneels up on the mattress behind her, leaving the strap sitting on the bed.

One finger drags from her clit, between her labia, and all the way up to her tailbone. “Goodness, darling. You’re dripping.” Keyleth flushes, trying to close her thighs without success, and Zahra tuts. “None of that. We were doing so well.”

She keeps her fingers between Keyleth’s thighs, stroking her labia, tracing circles around her clit. And she’s _close_ , closer than she realized from the spanking, arching and moaning almost immediately. But this time, just as she thinks Zahra will make her come again, she stops. Keyleth screams into the gag, tugging against the rope holding her arms. After a few moments, she gives up her struggling. Only then does Zahra resume touching her, rubbing her clit until her thighs tremble and she cannot help but moan. She tightens around nothing, pleasure drawing into a hot ball between her hips, and, once more, Zahra stops. Keyleth swears as loudly as she can as she shakes.

This time, Zahra pushes three fingers inside her again, arousal easing it so she can sink in and crook them and massage in slow, firm circles while Keyleth’s toes curl and she wails into the gag. With her other hand, Zahra rubs tight circles against Keyleth’s clit. It’s enough to make her try to twist away from it, but she has nowhere to go. So she squeezes her eyes shut and her hands into fists and braces for Zahra to stop again.

But she doesn’t. The orgasm hits her like the ocean at the bottom of a thousand-foot cliff.

“I’d say you’re about ready,” Zahra muses brightly, afterward, wiping her wet fingers on Keyleth’s sore ass.

“Mm?” she asks, raising her head. Strands of her hair stick to her forehead and her neck. Her legs tremble with the aftershocks

Silver glints in Zahra’s hand. Keyleth tries to twist away, but there’s a harness wrapping her chest, and Zahra just uses it to hold her in place. The first clamp goes on, biting down on her nipple like a tiny, blunt-toothed mouth, and Keyleth whimpers into the gag, high and sharp. Zahra puts the second one on a second later. Then she gives the chain between them a tug until Keyleth whines again and tugs against the rope around her wrists. She glares, but Zahra’s smile does not falter as she reaches over to the nightstand. She comes back with three metal teardrops cupped in her palm.

Keyleth starts whimpering again.

“Shh…” Zahra coos, hooking the first weight onto the clamp on Keyleth’s right nipple.

She lets go, and Keyleth gasps. It’s not _just_ pain. It’s pain and pleasure that run from her chest to her clit.

“So pretty,” Zahra pats her on the cheek and then applies the matching weight. “One more…”

The third goes in the center of the chain, dragging at both her nipples, and Keyleth arches, swearing into the gag. When Zahra taps it, the chain swings.

Then she leaves Keyleth to pant and groan while she buckles on the harness. There’s a murmur and a gasp behind her. She cannot turn enough, bound as she is, to see, but she can imagine. Zahra has a collection of uniquely shaped and honestly _intimidating_ cocks she likes to use. Keyleth whines into the gag, clenching on nothing as her stomach flips.

Zahra comes back to kneel behind her, and a soft cry breaks from her as cool, slick glass rubs against her folds. It’s not smooth—not rough, either, but richly textured, like most of Zahra’s favorites. She pushes it forward. The head alone would stretch her if not for Zahra’s fingering, and Keyleth whines until she gets it all the way in. But after the flare of the head comes another ridge, rubbing over her walls, and another, and a third as Zahra pushes her cock in _deep_. It stretches and fills her until Keyleth pants with it, the stretch and the weight of it, the way it makes her throb.

Then Zahra takes her by the hips and starts to thrust. Keyleth loses her breath to it, moaning into the gag. Even with Zahra’s hands on her hips, the rhythm is enough to rock her on her knees. The clamps swing. Pain shoots from her nipples to her clit. Her ass smarts every time Zahra’s hips meet it. And she’s so wet she cannot shut out the sounds the toy makes as Zahra fucks her with it.

“There you are,” Zahra croons, “needy little thing.”

“M’not,” she tries to protest. A hard slap catches her stinging ass, and she squeals, clenching hard on the cock.

“No?” Zahra asks. “So, you _don’t_ want to come again?”

A long whine breaks from her. She squeezes her eyes shut and tries to focus on her throbbing nipples, the pain in her ass, _anything—_ but it all feeds back to the cock driving in her, to the hot ache building and building in her and how much she— She shakes her head hard, letting out small, hiccuping cries. Zahra’s rhythm doesn’t falter. She fucks Keyleth right up against a wall of pleasure, orgasm right on the other side, and her clit aching.

“Please,” Keyleth gasps.

“Please, what?”

She bites the gag for a moment before trying again. It muffles her, but she does her best to whine, “Please, please—let me come” through her mouthful of rope.

Zahra hums thoughtfully, then gives Keyleth’s ass another slap. “What are you?”

Keyleth balks, struggling one more time against her ropes and the clamps and the cock in her. She wants to embrace the gag, but they both know she _can_ say it, and she doesn’t _have_ to. She could stop this. She could just snap her fingers—

“Please,” Keyleth sobs, really sobs, tears down her cheeks, “M’needy. I’ m—I— _fuck_ , I need to come.”

“Mm. Just the way I like you.”

Then there are fingers on her clit, making fast, firm circles, and Keyleth screams as she falls into orgasm. Zahra works her right through the aftershocks and into oversensitivity, slowing her thrusts, but not the motion of her fingers. And Keyleth gives up struggling. She sobs into the gag as Zahra keeps playing with her clit, and while she picks up her pace again, fucks her hard and mean and _perfect_ until Keyleth comes a final time.

The cock makes a slick sound as Zahra draws it out of her. Then there are fingers at her nipples, and a soft ‘this will hurt, dear’ at her ear. She wails as the clamps come off, and the pain in her nipples spikes, but Zahra leaves them alone. It fades soon enough. The ropes holding her up are next, and Keyleth leans into her with a grateful moan.

“Any tingling? Flex your fingers.”

She does, then makes a thumb’s up. A moment later, the gag comes loose. Zahra accepts a cup of water and holds it to Keyleth’s lips. She drinks. It’s cold, and it soothes her throat. Keyleth draws a deep breath and then looks down at Zahra, the cock still strapped against her, the wet, white curls between her legs.

“...could I?” she asks, “And, can—could I keep the ropes, please?”

Zahra pauses a moment as she brushes Keyleth’s hair out of her face. Then she nods. “I’d be _happy_ to have your mouth, darling. Give me one moment.”

She fumbles herself out of her harness. It falls onto the floor with a soft thump. Then she stretches out on the bed, legs open, a pillow under her back.

With a hand tight in Keyleth’s hair, Zahra guides her down. The taste of her hits Keyleth’s tongue, and she groans. Eyes watering from the grip on her hair, she begins to lick. She circles Zahra’s clit and traces patterns over her lips.

“Good girl…” Zahra gasps, “oh, yes— a little firmer, darling.” Keyleth obliges and gets a long, low moan in response. “Fuck, you’re lovely. Listening to you beg for me…”

Keyleth shivers and Zahra sits up enough to rub her upper back for a moment. She redoubles her efforts, sucking on her clit. Sounds of effort spill from her, muffled, and around her head, Zahra’s thighs begin to quiver.

“So— _ah_ — fucking hot.” Zahra tips her head back until her horns scrape against the headboard, her back arching. And she holds Keyleth’s face close, grinding against her mouth. “When you beg like that, I—I’d give you almost anything.”

This time, Keyleth presses her tongue up inside Zahra as she moans, so she’ll feel the vibration of it. She gets a cry of pleasure as her reward and a fresh rush of wet over her lips. She sucks again at Zahra’s clit, insistent, moaning as she strains to look up at her. Her chest rises and falls with her heavy breaths.

“Almost there—” Zahra groans, “almost—”

Her cry is loud, triumphant, as she comes against Keyleth’s mouth, pinning her in place by the hair until the climax fades and she goes limp against the bed again.

They lie there for a few long moments before Keyleth catches the sound of footsteps. Then those small hands are at her wrists again, and this time she twists enough to catch a glimpse of Pike as she sets about slowly, tenderly, unwrapping the ropes from Keyleth’s arms. She smiles, and Pike smiles back, pausing in her work to squeeze one of her hands. A flush rides high on her cheeks and on her chest. At some point, Pike had shrugged out of her clothes. She’s wet between her thighs, and Keyleth flushes despite everything at the thought of it.

“You were amazing,” Pike whispers. “How are you feeling?”

The ropes on her arms come loose, and Keyleth groans, rolling her shoulders. “Good.” She’s _tired_ , tired enough that coming up with more words is a strain. “I could probably sleep for a week. Um…?” Lower lip caught between her teeth, she looks from one of them to another.

“You don’t have to do a thing, darling,” Zahra assures her as she sits up. The corset comes off with the tug of a few laces, and she drops it onto the bed with a huff. “Gods, I haven’t had a session like that in a while… _Mmm_ ,” she stretches, a slow smile curling across her lips, “Forgot how much I liked it.”

“Oh.”

Keyleth folds her arms under her head and rests her face on them while Pike frees her legs. Tenderly, she runs a finger over the marks on Keyleth’s ankles and leaves her thighs alone. They still smart, although the fog of pleasure softens it.

“You look…” Pike sighs, “Seeing you like that, well, I’m glad you wanted me here. I’m gonna be coming back to this for a _long_ time.”

Keyleth flushes. “Well… thank you?”

“Thank you, too,” Zahra pets her hair, nails scraping against her scalp, and Keyleth moans. Then she moves on to untie the harness wrapping her chest. A faint vibration runs through the rope as it slides against itself, and Keyleth shivers. “Beautiful,” Zahra whispers, bending to kiss her hair. “Just lovely. I could fucking eat you alive. Would you like that, darling?”

“...Fuck.” Keyleth pushes herself up enough for Zahra to tug the rope free. “Please. Just… not right this second.”

The others laugh, and Keyleth joins them as she carefully curls in on herself, thighs still parted in deference to her sensitivity. She admires the stripes on her arms, and the lines that frame her breasts, and sighs.

“Do you want to see the rest?” Zahra asks, smoothing her hair again.

Keyleth nods.

They help her to her feet. Her legs are jelly, and her ass hurts, and she stumbles at first before Pike reaches up to steady her. But after that, she manages to walk slowly to the adjoining bathroom. And while Zahra fills the tub with near-scorching water, Pike guides Keyleth to the mirror.

It’ s—a lot.

Her nipples are swollen and deep pink, and all the rope lines on her skin seem to map out every way she was bent and contorted and controlled, including the ones that cut across her cheeks from the gag. Slowly, she turns. Then she looks over her shoulder. Red stripes overlap on her ass and thighs, darkest where they meet. All the breath rushes out of her.

A moment later, she has Zahra’s arms around her, and Pike’s hand rubbing the small of her back as she shudders and laughs and clings on tight to both of them.

“I can heal you?” Pike offers softly.

Keyleth shakes her head. “Not yet. I want… Just not yet.”

So they help her into the bath. Pike is small, but they still need to press close together, She helps Pike with the long fall of her hair, going slowly and gently before letting fall in a white-gold sheet around her. Then they trade places, Pike’s hands in her hair while she washes Zahra’s back for her.

When she’s done, Keyleth leans in, chest against Zahra’s back, her arms around her waist. “ _Thank you_.”

“Oh!” she lets out a soft laugh. “You’re welcome, dear.”

“That was a lot,” Keyleth murmurs, “For—all of us. And you made me feel…” then she looks back, “you too, Pike, really.”

She laughs, a familiar chuckle that usually follows denial, and Keyleth reaches for her before she can voice it. Pike huffs softly before leaning in, settling into their tangle in the steaming water. Zahra’s tail flips across Keyleth’s lap, and Pike’s head comes to rest against her arm.

“We’re both grateful for you,” Zahra murmurs, leaning down to kiss the top of her head and then her lips when she turns her face up.

“Okay, then,” Pike replies, soft, smiling.

“Mm…” she shifts, slow and languid, sliding deeper into the hot water. “We should get some lotion on your ass, Keyleth. And have dinner…”

They should. It’s the responsible thing, and they have Pike’s groceries sitting downstairs. But the bath is wonderfully warm, and her friends are here, and she’s sated and tired down to her bones in a way she almost never feels. Most of the aches are still there, but they’re good, right. Her body’s presence is a comfort that she revels in as she drifts in the steam.

“Could we stay here a little longer?” Keyleth asks

Zahra leans in and kisses her hair, as well. “Whatever you like.”

**Author's Note:**

> The author thrives on comments! Especially in rarepair hell. 🧡🧡🧡
> 
> Come and join us on the writing discord, [Haven!](https://discord.gg/WPywUy7)


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